


Small Victories

by heydoeydoey



Series: Everything 'verse [4]
Category: Glee
Genre: Light Angst, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-08
Updated: 2011-04-08
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:33:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22791034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heydoeydoey/pseuds/heydoeydoey
Summary: Puck has to deal in small victories for now.
Relationships: Kurt Hummel/Noah Puckerman, background Kurt Hummel/Blaine Anderson
Series: Everything 'verse [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1638469
Kudos: 21





	Small Victories

Rachel throws the Second Official Rachel Berry House Party Trainwreck Extravaganza a couple days after they all get back from Nationals. They need to blow off some steam after their loss, and Rachel’s dads are off visiting her grandma in Florida. Nobody’s putting in quite as much of an effort to get trashed this time as they were last time, but there is alcohol and all of them are moving pretty steadily from buzzed to tipsy.

Puck’s enjoying himself more the second time around, now that he doesn’t have two angry-girl drunks screaming at him about his hairstyle and destroying their bodies. Instead, Quinn is focusing her angry-girl drunkenness on Finn, bitching about how they lost the prom king and queen campaign. Lauren didn’t even bother showing up; she still thinks show choir is stupid, so Puck isn’t surprised that she bailed.

He’s kicking Sam’s ass in beer pong, so he doesn’t notice Kurt’s arrival until Aretha’s squeal nearly ruptures his eardrums. He catches a glimpse of Kurt before he gets tackled by nearly all of the girls and disappears into a cuddle puddle. Puck thinks about rescuing him, but he might get a chance to see Kurt bitch them all out if someone messes up his hair or his outfit, so he stays where he is, watching Kurt out of the corner of his eye even though he wants to run straight to the other boy like an overexcited puppy. He doesn’t even care how uncool that sounds.  
  
By the time Kurt does free himself, he wanders over to the bar and hops up on one of the stools, watching the party from the edges. Puck is pretty sure Kurt never used to fade into the background of a room before Dalton and Blaine and everything that went down with Karofsky. Sure he made his entrance, but now that he’s sitting by himself, it’s almost like he isn’t even there anymore. Mercedes and Tina are having a dance off and now Mike has taken Puck’s spot against Sam in beer pong game and Santana is alternately hanging off of Sam’s arm and shouting slightly hysterical things at Brittany, who is in Artie’s lap, nuzzling her face against his neck like a cat. Rachel is singing (drunk and off-key) into her sparkly pink mic while Quinn and Finn bicker and Kurt is just leaning against the bar in Rachel’s dads’ basement unnoticed. And Puck doesn’t like that.

“Wanna get out of here?” Puck suggests.  
  
Kurt arches an eyebrow at him. “I did just get here.”  
  
“Yeah, but we both know you’re here to see me anyway.” Puck grins, leaning close enough to Kurt that he can smell the citrusy scent of lotion or cologne or whatever it is that Kurt uses.  
  
Kurt rolls his eyes, but he doesn’t argue. It’s been a week and a half since Puck found Kurt sitting on the tailgate of his truck and he’s dying to ask whether Kurt has decided to come back or if he’s gotten rid of Blaine but Puck figures starting out with that stuff is just going to make Kurt feel pressured, and Puck doesn’t do shit like that anymore. Or he’s trying not to, anyway.  
  
Kurt slides off his bar stool and grabs Puck’s hand. They slip out of the basement easily, up the stairs and out the front door. Kurt sits down on the stairs in front of Rachel’s house.  
  
“I can’t actually leave.” Kurt says. “Designated driver.”  
Puck shrugs and takes a spot on the step next to Kurt, stretching his legs out in front of him, his knee just a couple inches from Kurt’s.  
  
“I got into a fight with my dad.” Kurt says, staring down at his shoes.  
  
“About what?” Puck thinks he already knows the answer.  
  
“I brought up switching back to McKinley.”  
  
“He wasn’t happy about it?”  
  
“No. Not really. And it was only a theoretical conversation. I can’t imagine how he’ll be when I tell him it’s what I want to do.”  
  
Puck’s heart does a weird stuttering thing in his chest. “Is it?”  
  
Kurt shoots him a look. “You already know it is.”  
  
“Try talking to Mrs. H about it.” Puck suggests. “She’s pretty cool.”  
“Yeah.” Kurt says softly. “She is.”

“Are you all right?” Puck frowns. There’s something in Kurt’s face, a tension around the corners of his mouth that has Puck worried.  
  
“I did something stupid.” Kurt says, catching his bottom lip between his teeth.  
  
“Do you wanna talk about it?” Puck offers. “I’m sort of the king of doing stupid stuff.” He shoots Kurt a grin that the other boy doesn’t return.  
  
“I had sex with Blaine.” Kurt’s voice is sort of disbelieving, like he’s having a hard time wrapping his head around it.  
  
Puck feels like somebody just punched him in the stomach, which is stupid because he knew Kurt and Blaine were ‘sort of’ together, and they’re two teenage guys so really the fact that it’s taken them this long to have sex is kind of crazy.  
  
“When?” Puck blurts, which is probably the least important question ( _why_ is really where he should start) but it’s the first one he thinks of.

“While you guys were in New York. Dad and Carole went out and Blaine came over and it just sort of…happened. And it was…all wrong.”  
  
“I think that means he wasn’t doing it right.” Puck points out, because apparently the only thing he can do when he feels this crappy is make dumb, insensitive jokes.

Kurt shakes his head. “No. I guess physically the sex was good.” Puck feels like he’s been punched in the gut a second time. “But I felt terrible about it. I thought that if we tried it, we might feel more like boyfriends and less like friends who hold hands and kiss. But it was a mistake, because I wanted my first time to be with the right person, and I picked wrong.”  
  
“Most people do.” Puck doesn’t know if he’s trying to make Kurt feel better or worse with this particular comment.  
  
“I know. I just wish we’d broken up before we wrecked our friendship.”  
  
Puck suddenly can breathe again, because even though Kurt fucked another dude (or was fucked by another dude—Puck figures now isn’t the time to ask about the mechanics) he and the Hogwarts Hobbit broke up. And okay, Kurt obviously feels shitty and it’s not really the right time for Puck to make any kind of move, but it means that he can. Someday. When Kurt doesn’t look like he’s trying really hard not to cry.  
  
Puck slips his arm around Kurt’s shoulders tentatively and for a moment Kurt tenses before relaxing against Puck, dropping his head to rest on Puck’s shoulder.  
  
“Are you mad?” Kurt asks after a few moments of surprisingly comfortable silence.  
  
“No.” And he isn’t. He’s a little bit hurt, but he’ll never admit that out loud, and he’s annoyed with Blaine for winning a competition he didn’t even know they were having until he lost, and he’s frustrated with himself for not realising how much he wants Kurt until three weeks ago. “I mean, I did tell you to figure stuff out with Blaine, didn’t I?”  
  
And suddenly what seemed like a good idea now feels like a huge mistake. Puck wonders if this is the universe getting back at him for all the girlfriends and wives he’s slept with. Punishment for taking too much of what isn’t his. He sort of figured that was Beth—taking away the only thing that had ever really been _his_ —but maybe it’s Kurt too.  
  
Fuck. He can’t think about this stuff when he’s sort of drunk, because it makes him want to cry.  
  
Kurt sighs. “Yeah. You did. I wish you would have just told me to dump him.”  
  
“Yeah.” Puck says quietly. “But that wouldn’t have gone over well, babe. You would have told me to stop being a controlling, possessive Neanderthal and that you’re perfectly capable of making your own decisions.”  
  
Kurt’s lips quirk up in the corners, and Puck guesses he can consider that a small victory. Blaine made Kurt feel like shit, but Puck is making him feel better. Despite everything, Puck still thinks he gets the better end of that deal.  



End file.
